1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conductive shell for a shielded electrical connector, and more particularly, to a metal shell that is adapted to be clamped onto a shielded electrical connector so as to provide the shielded electrical connector with a special cable termination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical connectors are mated together in a number of different applications in order to provide an electrical interface between conductors or circuits coupled to the electrical connectors. In certain applications, an electrical connector is adapted to receive a plurality of individual wires that are coupled to electrical contacts within the electrical connector. One end of each of the electrical contacts is coupled to one of the conductors extending into the electrical connector with the other end of the contact being adapted to engage a contact in the electrical connector with which it is to be mated. While the electrical connector used with such individual conductors may have a number of different configurations, it typically includes a dielectric housing with four sidewalls extending between a front mating end and a rear wire receiving end. The plurality of conductors to be coupled to the contacts in the electrical connector can be inserted into the wire receiving end of the electrical connector and coupled to the individual ones of the electrical contacts. If the electrical connector is to be shielded, a conductive metal shield is mounted about the sidewalls of the dielectric housing of the electrical connector. The metal shield is used as an EMI/RFI shield to insure that noise signals or other interference that may be present near the electrical connectors do not interfere with the signals being processed through those connectors and that the signals being processed through those connectors do not interfere with electrical components near the connectors. Various different types of such shielded electrical connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,337,989; 4,544,227; 4,639,067; 4,641,902; and 4,838,808 and in European Patent Application No. 0 073 957 A2.
In many instances, the metal shields are stamped and formed requiring relatively expensive tooling to manufacture the shield to a shape that is needed for it to properly fit about the dielectric housing of the electrical connector and to provide a termination for the conductors in a cable or the like. As a result different tooling is required for each different type of termination that is needed with respect to a particular electrical connector. For example, a different electrical shield would have to be provided depending on whether the conductors connected to the electrical connector are enclosed in a shielded cable or whether such a cable extends at right angle or in line with respect to the wire receiving end of the electrical connector. When the cable has a braided shield surrounding the conductors, special provisions must be made in order to interconnect the braided shield of the cable to the shield of the electrical connector. However, the stamping and forming of so many different shields may be prohibitively expense.